Chapter 144 Deadly Illusion Re-edited

The light pouring in from the lamps outside allowed Bella to observe every single detail in the room, including Charles’s sulky features. He seemed very skeptical as to what his next move ought to be. She wasn’t able to breathe because he was pressing hard on her chest, yet she somehow felt safe with him on top of her.

“What are we going to do now?” she whispered.

“Wait,” he answered.

She watched him as one of his arms stretched out to press a button against the wall that opened a perfectly camouflaged safety box. Inside was a golden gun and a box of cartridges.

A slight gasp came out of Bella’s mouth.

This was the first time she had seen a gun in such close range. With childlike curiosity, she watched Charles insert the cartridges in the cylinder.

“Have you ever used that before?”

“Not on a moving target.”

He shut the cylinder and pulled back the hammer. The gun was now pointed at the window.

“Are you really going to use that thing?”

“Whoever is outside isn’t giving me another option,” he replied.

A shadow fluttered for a moment outside the window and Charles immediately pulled the trigger. The blast was so loud; Bella thought she was going to suffer permanent eardrum damage. It was soon followed by another sound that came from outside the window, like a dead weight dropping to the ground.

There were a few moments of silence followed by more shots being fired from outside through the window. A bullet whistled by Bella’s ear and hit the wall. A small piece of plaster that flew out of the hole hit her on the cheek.

Bella kept shaking while her hands clenched Charles’s clothes with all her strength as her body clung to his side unconsciously. When Charles decided to make a move, she didn’t want to let go of him. That was how desperate she felt.

“Please, don’t leave me.”

“I got to do something or else we’ll be stuck here for the rest of the night.”

She had never been as afraid as she was now. She used to think herself brave, but after being showered with bullets, she was trembling like a small animal despite knowing in her heart that Charles would never let her die.

Charles’s heart softened unexpectedly the moment he gazed into her frightened face. He crouched down next to her and looked into her eyes.

“You don’t need to be so afraid. This is a blind spot. Their bullets can’t reach us here. You will be safe, I promise.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Try to get rid of those scumbags outside.”

“All right. Do what you need to do,” she said and loosened her grip on his clothes.

Charles gave her a quick kiss on the forehead and moved quickly across the room. She looked at his shadowy figure moving in a stealthy mood towards the window. Apart from his agility, there was nothing different to his usual style. He didn’t seem to be afraid of being hit by a bullet.

Charles clung behind the wall and raised his pistol. He fired several shots outside; each one was accompanied with a sound of deafening proportions that made Bella cover her ears to protect herself from more eardrum damage.

A few moments later, a dark figure that was lurking outside the window collapsed to the ground.

Was he dead?

Suddenly there was the sound of more footsteps. It seemed there were more assailants outside, all of them with the same intention.

To kill those in the study.

Sensing the imminent danger, Charles turned his back and moved to protect Bella.

At the same time, a tall, dark, form entered the room holding a gun pointed straight at Charles. He was wearing tight black outfit that covered his entire body and a black hood over the head.

“Charles, be careful!” shouted Bella.

Triggered by a sudden outburst of strength and bravery, Bella shot forward to shield Charles with her own body. She put her arms around him just seconds before the intruder fired his gun.

A sharp pain shot through her entire body the instance the bullet penetrated her shoulder. An expression of shock and fear distorted Charles’s handsome features.

“No!” he cried out. The “O” was so protracted; it seemed to stretch out in infinity.

Bella could see his agony but could not hear his voice. For some reason the whole world had suddenly become silent. Her view of Charles was blurred due to a large chunk of seawater that was floating before her eyes.

It behaved in a rather unusual way, splitting up into many parts. Some of these formed a shield around Charles and Bella, others turned into arrows. Directed by an invisible force they shot against the enemies. Bella’s mind was in a state of utter chaos. She somehow convinced herself that she was suffering from hallucinations-a direct result of her being shot.

Meanwhile, there was more gunfire, which gave the impression the whole mansion was shaking up and down. It went on like this for a few minutes until everything settled down and the illusion dissolved.

It seemed that she was now safe.

“Is everything all right?” Ziv’s worried voice came from the corridor outside.

“We’re all right here,” said Charles. “How about Katherine?”

“She is sleeping in her room,” replied Ziv.

It hurt Bella that in such a critical moment Charles was more concerned about Katherine’s well-being. She pushed him away and walked in a zombie-like state towards the door. The sharp pain on her shoulder seemed to have gone away. Despite being hit by a bullet, she didn’t feel a thing.

“Gosh! You’re bleeding.”

Charles put his arms around her to prevent her from leaving. Her body was stiff as a dummy and she was unable to resist him.

“Find Elsa and ask her to come here right away,” ordered Charles.

“Yes, Lord.” Ziv gave an order to his companions, and one of them rushed to the back yard where Elsa lived.

Followed closely by Ziv, Charles took Bella in his arms and carried her to his bedroom down the corridor where he made her sit on a couch. He checked her wound and found that it was bleeding. He couldn’t wait for Elsa to get here. Something had to be done right now.

“We’ll need to clean your wound,” he said.

Bella lowered her head without saying a word. Her face was bloodless and her fingers were twisted together.

Ziv brought some water while Charles pulled down her dress to take a better look at the wound. When he saw the horrible injury on the snow-white skin, his eyes got red with fury.

“That was a silly thing to do,” he said in an angry tone.

The only thing that Bella could do was keep on trembling. Her eyes were blanker than ever. Even that beautiful voice of his could not drag her out of the den of misery into which she had withdrawn.

A guard appeared at the door to announce that one of the assailants had been capture in his attempt to escape the mansion. A couple of more were lying dead in the garden while several others had managed to sneak away after their failed assassination attempt.

Charles was eager to find out who was behind this attempt, but first things first.